The field of the invention is air vents for vandal-resistant applications for directing the flow of air into or out of the room or cell. The invention relates more particularly to air vents useful in prison cells, mental institutions and other environments where it is necessary that the vent cannot be damaged or operated from within the cell or room which the vent is servicing.
Typically, in the past, in order to create a vandal-resistant air vent, the grate or grille across the surface of a conventional duct outlet was merely made from a stronger material and the air-flow adjustment if any was made by a damper installed in the supply line upstream of the grate or vent or was only adjustable from the cell. Adjustment from within the cell is disadvantageous because of numerous reasons. The steps required to provide maintenance service in a prison cell are labor intensive. First, it must be understood that prison guards or security personnel are not permitted to do service or maintenance work. Furthermore, maintenance personnel are not trained or equipped to guard prisoners. Still further, tools which are required to perform maintenance are potentially capable of being used as weapons and it thus becomes necessary for the maintenance personnel to be kept separated from the prisoners. Therefore, even for a simple maintenance task it is necessary to first remove the prisoner or prisoners from the cell. Secondly, the maintenance man, accompanied by a security man enter the cell. A second security man may also be required to escort the maintenance man to the cell door. It can thus be seen that a task as ostensibly simple as changing a light bulb becomes a disruptive and labor intensive task if it must be done from within the cell. These steps are eliminated when service can be performed from the pipe chase where an unescorted service man may do the work. Secondly, if the air flow can be adjusted from the cell the prisoner can disrupt the balance of air flow in other cells along the same duct by opening or closing the vent. In many institutions, it was believed not practical to provide for individual adjustment for each air outlet or inlet and the vent was merely operated in an open configuration. The ability to adjust the air flow in each room or cell is important to provide occupant comfort. Plumbing fixture cabinets have been used for air vent placement but such vents were not adjustable.